Inside Metal Art

Featured Artist : Paul Hill

2010-11-11T03:12:00.006-05:00

FEATURED ARTIST

PAUL B. HILL - CONCEPTUAL METALSMITH AND SCULPTOR
Wilmington, North Carolina


Paul Hill

Paul Hill's fascination with the arts began at early age, observing his grandfather work in his photography studio. He describes the experience as watching him "paint with light". Paul started his own art career as an illustrator and painter. While exploring his creative process, he felt a brewing desire to push his work into 3 dimensions, and made the transition from acrylics and ink to metalworking about 10 years ago. In the metalsmithing community, we are glad that he did. Paul's metal artwork is truly extraordinary and inspiring. He is a prolific sculptor and a positive force in the public art scene.

"I work from a "Direct-Metal" approach to sculpture...where the work is slowly built up, piece by piece. The Industrial Age of Machinery and the Art-Deco period have always been an influence in my life and now in my work. I always try to reflect part of that "feel" into each piece I create." - Paul Hill

Paul Hill

This formed and welded steel sculpture is titled "For No Apparent Reason". It was inspired by Moroccan goats that actually climb trees to feed on their berries. Click here to watch a video of this interesting behavior. The piece is currently on display at the Cary Town Center. It was one of 10 finalists for the 2010-2011 Cary Visual Art Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition. Part of the appeal of Paul's work is its humorous tilt. This piece will stop you in your tracks, make you look at the person next to you and say "...what?..." You are moved to figure out the meaning of this strange situation. Paul says he enjoys making "art that challenges people." Aside from creating work that is compelling conceptually, his craftsmanship and technical skill are top notch and are an excellent vehicle for his whimsical ideas. It is nice to see a metalworker creating such complete works of art, and Paul is very productive as well.


"Straining to Be" by Paul Hill

Paul starts mapping out his hollow forms by making chalk drawings on his table. He works out basic proportions and compositions as he "captures the character" of his subject matter in silhouette. From the drawing Paul builds a 3 dimensional steel armature and makes any desired modifications to the form. Next he adds the sheet metal skin, which is hammer formed section by section.

"The completion of the piece is not always immediately evident to me... until I can take a long and deep breath - that's when I know that the choices I have made are right!" - Paul Hill

"Southern Hospitality" was purchased by Residents of Old Wilmington and is being donated to the city of Wilmington, North Carolina.

"This piece is one of my favorites, in that the Venus Fly Trap is very native to the Wilmington, NC area. The stems are steel and the plant tops are made from colored fused glass." - Paul Hill


"Absolute Uncertainty" by Paul Hill

"The passage of time slowly reveals our inner and outer blemishes...This is the first piece in a series of 5 sculptures...with the intent to involve the observer both physically and physiologically." - Paul Hill

Paul's "Insatiable" Series addressing social issues of consumption and natural resources.

Please take a moment to visit Paul's online portfolio and learn more about his incredible talent.

He is available for commission work and public art projects, and has several pieces for sale on his website.

He is an outstanding metalsmith and a thoughtful artist.

"Natural Progression" by Paul Hill


"Sentient" by Paul Hill

Tortoise Sculpture - Copper Forming and Fabrication Tutorial

2010-10-18T02:39:00.006-04:00

From Flat Sheet Metal to Finished Work of Art...

This 4' tortoise sculpture was formed and fabricated from a single 4' x 8' sheet of 16 gauge copper. I will take you through the construction, step by step. There is a video slideshow of the build at the end of this article.

The inspiration for this sculpture was the shell of an African desert dwelling tortoise that my parents brought home from a trip overseas. It is quite old but still in remarkably good condition. I have vivid memories of investigating the shell as a child and teenager. I looked through countless images and videos of tortoises and decided I would make a gopher tortoise, or at least something similar.
I purchased a 4' x 8' sheet of copper and cut it into more manageable pieces. I use a Bosch electric shear to rough cut sheet metal if it is thinner than 14 gauge.

I started the shell by cutting an over-sized oval pattern. I hammered this flat sheet into a high dome. Notice the tiny deformations left by each hammer blow. I am using delrin mallets, which are softer than metal, so they do not scar the surface.

Excessive hammering stiffens copper considerably. This structural change in the metal is called work hardening. Heating the copper to temperatures near it's melting point renders the material soft and pliable. This process of making the metal malleable is called annealing. I am using a large "weed burning" propane torch available from Harbor Freight. After heating, I quench the metal in water to quickly cool it down and blast off some of the oxides left by the annealing operation.

I pushed the sheet into a concave shape by hammering it down into a depression carved into a tree stump. This technique is called sinking. A round of hammering produced an inch or two of depth before the metal became work hardened and needed annealing. I was able to form the sheet in the tree stump until it reached the depth of the carved depression, at which point I had maxed out that tool.

To stretch the sheet farther I hammered it into an opening that I cut into my workbench, in essence creating a giant silhouette die (or matrix die). In this photo you can see the edges of the hole digging into the shell form. Because the shell was larger than the hole it did not slip through during hammering.

You can see the opening in the table here. After I had reached the desired depth I trimmed the edges of the copper with the electric shear.

I covered a stack of styrofoam with wet clay and placed it inside the copper dome. The clay supported the metal as I hammered in the contours of the shell. It preserved the shape of the copper during forming while allowing it to continue moving.

I mapped out the sections of the shell with a sharpie and tapped the lines in with my chasing tools. From this point forward the shell was formed using a hand held pneumatic hammer. I use an air chisel designed to cut and chip metal. I modify the chisel tools by grinding and forging them into hammers.

From time to time I removed the shell from the clay backing and put it back into my giant silhouette die. This way I could work the metal from both the front and back sides. Shaping metal by impacting the back and pushing out is called repousse. Working the metal down by hitting the front side is called chasing.

I chose to work each section of the shell to completion before moving on to the next. I like to get an idea of how things are going to end up looking while I am in process. These stepped layers were pushed out from the inside of the form and then refined from the outside.

I formed a simple plastron (the lower shell) and tack welded the pieces together. A tack weld is a quick, superficial weld used to temporarily hold metal together. I would need to separate the shell later to attach the body parts. A turtle's upper shell is called the carapace.

I made a clay model to get a feel for the body proportions and experiment with different poses. This was a satisfying part of the build as the sculpture was developing a personality. I used the same water based clay that I used for the backing while forming the shell.

I made paper templates from the clay model. Once I had figured out how I wanted to assemble the body parts, I traced the paper patterns onto copper. The head and neck were built in four main sections.

In this photo I am annealing the copper pattern which will become the sides of the head. The copper is brought up to a bright red heat to fully soften it.

I began tapping in the outline of the eyes using my chasing tools. I was working over a slab of wet clay. Traditionally, pitch would be used in a scenario like this, but I find working with clay is much quicker and cleaner. The metal will slide around a bit on the clay but repositioning it is simple as compared to heating pitch.

I worked the eyes from the front and back sides of the metal until the basic high and low points were established. From time to time I removed the copper from the clay backing and hammered directly on my wooden table. This produces a crisper line since the metal is not free to move beyond the hard surface of the table.

I also experimented with hammering on a thick rubber pad. I have used all sorts of things to support the metal during forming including towels, T shirts, carpet scraps, pillows, cardboard, and wax. You can see the variety of chasing tools I used to shape the eyes.

In this photo the completed section has been cleaned in acid to remove oxides left behind by the annealing process. The pinkish-orange color is what pure, untarnished copper looks like.

I formed the top section of the head based on measurements from the clay model. No paper pattern was required for this simpler shape.

I welded the two pieces together and sanded down the weld bead. Hammering over the weld zone helps to blend in the connection and create an invisible weld. It is important to anneal the weld before hammering or it will crack.

By this point I had been working on the sculpture about 150 hours. I was saturated with tortoise imagery and factoids. I was haunted by turtle dreams.

In this photo the jaw has been formed and tack welded in place. I do my copper welding with a Miller syncrowave TIG machine. I used de-oxidized copper filler rod which has a little phosphorus in the alloy to help keep the weld clean. I have also used copper electric wire as filler with good results.

To form the neck I made a copper cylinder and crushed it in my hydraulic press like a giant soda can. I helped direct where the metal would crinkle by hammering on isolated areas, creating work hardened zones and softer annealed zones.

The fit between the head and neck was not quite right so I added a patch to fill in the gap.

The completed head after welding, sanding and cleaning. I use a weak mixture of sulfuric acid and water to clean non-ferrous metals. An acidic bath used to clean metal is called pickle. Acids are usually used warm to speed up the process. I have also used vinegar or lemon juice to clean copper. It works okay in combination with some scrubbing with a scouring pad. I prefer lemon juice of the two grocery store options.

A tortoise's front legs are flat and wide. I broke the legs up into three sections - a front and back below the knee, and a cylinder above the knee. After the formed parts were welded together I began playing around by positioning them to find a dynamic pose. I decided to add the scales later and continued making body parts.

I made the toes from copper pipe that I cut at an angle and capped with copper sheet. The caps were silver soldered to the pieces of pipe with a high temperature solder used in jewelry production.

The toes were welded to the inside of the legs.

The paper templates for the bottoms of the feet. If you can make it out of paper, you can make it out of metal.

To fill in the spaces between the head and legs, I created sections of webbing based on paper patterns.

I clamped the webbing to the empty shell and tacked them in place. That way I could check the fit before doing too much welding. There were some small gaps which I hammered closed from the inside of the shell.

A tortoise's hind legs resemble elephant limbs. I formed two cylinders in my slip roll to use as basic building blocks. The slip roll forms even curves in sheet metal, little by little, through multiple passes.

I cut off the lower portion of the cylinders and unrolled them. It was easier to hammer in the spaces for the toes on a flat sheet of metal. I rolled them back up by hand and reattached them. Some simple deforming of the cylinders, and I had my hind legs. I made some more webbing and a tail.

I filled the limbs and head with a plaster and vermiculite mixture, then added a steel rod to the center of each part. Plaster adds strength and weight to hollow sculptures, protecting them from unpredictable accidents which could cause damage. The rest of the sculpture was filled solid as well, so it is fairly indestructible.

After the plaster set up I chased in the scales and did some surface refinement. The final smoothing out of the sheet metal skin is called planishing. The vermiculite additive made the plaster just compressible enough to do some minor forming.

I welded the limbs together with a simple steel armature, made sure all the gaps between the limbs were closed up, and cut a large hole in the plastron so I could fill the sculpture up with plaster.

Reattaching the carapace was a bit challenging. The parts had all moved around a little and the shell no longer fit nicely. I annealed the shell and squeezed it with a ratcheting strap, welding as I moved the strap from front to back.

The last step of the building process was flipping the poor guy over and filling the body cavity with nearly 100 lbs of plaster. The table top I cut to form the shell came in handy again as a brace.

The final touch was giving the sculpture a nice, even color called a patina. I chose to use liver of sulfur (liver potash) which gives copper a weathered, aged look. Liver of sulfur is an acidic patina chemical that darkens the metal. Copper and copper alloys like bronze and brass will develop their own patinas naturally over time. The liver of sulfur is simply a kick start for the process.

After the patina was dry I scrubbed the sculpture lightly with a scouring pad to bring out some copper highlights. The patina was rubbed off of the high spots but remained dark in the low areas. This technique adds some visual depth to the relief. The sculpture was sealed with a coat of wax. The wax can be reapplied semi-annually to retain the current patina or the sculpture can be left unsealed and it will begin it's own patina process.

Here is a video slideshow of the build from YouTube.

4' copper tortoise sculpture by Jeremy Maronpot, 175 lbs.

Repousse and Chasing Tutorial - Copper wall sculpture

2010-10-14T01:52:00.004-04:00

      This coral inspired wall sculpture was formed from a single sheet of copper. The only tools I used were a torch and a variety of hammers. This process of pushing flat sheet metal into 3 dimensional relief is called repousse and chasing.
     When copper is deformed it becomes rigid and inflexible. This is known as work hardening. Heating copper to temperatures near it's melting point relieves internal stresses and renders the material soft and pliable. This process is called annealing.
     The depth, or relief, in this piece was achieved by pushing the metal around from the front and back sides of the design, annealing as needed. Pushing the metal out from the back side is called repousse. Moving the metal down by impacting the front side is called chasing.

I began by cutting a large disk out of 16 gauge copper sheet. I annealed the metal and cleaned off the dark oxides left by the torch. I marked the areas which would be driven down from the front side (chased) with a sharpie.

I formed shallow craters by hammering inside the sketched out shapes, working the metal directly on my wooden table.
In this scenario the metal inside of the craters is work hardened.

I switched to a pneumatic hammer after I got the metal moving in the right direction. The air hammer pushes the metal quickly and with fairly uniform results.

While the craters are all work hardened, the areas in between them are still flexible. I pushed these areas out from the back side (repousse) to establish some high points. The shiny lines in this photo are the areas that were just hammered.

I turned the piece back over to work from the front. The metal in the center of the craters is being stretched by the hammer. I had to be careful not to push too far, or risk breaking through the thinning sheet.

In this photo the basic high and low points have been established.

Next, I began shaping the ridges by hammering them in from the sides, towards the center of the raised peaks. Forming a crease or sharp point from an undefined raised area like this is called acumination.

The color in this photo is the result of annealing. Heating copper causes the metal to form oxides on it's surface. These oxides are messy and troublesome and need to be removed, unless they are intended to be part of the sculpture's finish. Copper is normally cleaned with something acidic or by mechanically scrubbing the surface. I clean copper with a weak sulfuric acid and water mixture, but have also used vinegar or lemon juice with decent results, although it is considerably slower.

The final bit of forming was adding a secondary inner ring within each crater. This was done by chasing these areas with the air hammer. The pneumatic tool has a variable speed adjustment which I was constantly playing with. The metal is never struck very aggressively, as that would thin it too much. Instead the metal is pushed around slowly in small amounts.

             The sculpture was chemically colored with liver of sulfur (or sulfur potash). This is called a patina. I will be discussing finishes in a later post. The completed piece is 25 inches in diameter and relatively lightweight.

                                       Coral inspired copper wall sculpture by Jeremy Maronpot


Here is a video slideshow of the process

Robert (Bob) Ebendorf receives The North Carolina Award

2010-10-11T18:17:00.003-04:00

Artist and jeweler Robert (Bob) Ebendorf has been a leader in the art jewelry movement since the 60's. He was honored recently by Beverly Perdue and the N.C Department of Cultural Resources with the state's highest civilian award, The North Carolina Award. Past recipients include Francis Speight, James Taylor, and "Doc" Watson. Here is a link to the story on ECU's website.

Bob's pieces are often about giving a new life to ordinary objects. He is the godfather of jewelry made from found objects. I was lucky to have Bob as a professor at East Carolina University when I was doing my B.F.A. He is without a doubt one of the most caring, thoughtful people I have ever meet. Learning from Bob was truly an energetic experience. I remember how fast he would race around the studio, he was hard to keep up with even as a student in my 20's. Bob has a knack for inspiring the people around him, in and out of the classroom.

You may find him teaching workshops outside of ECU. I strongly encourage those of you studying jewelry to look him up on google. He is an icon and a valuable resource who loves helping people.

Here are some links to check out-
        Robert Ebendorf on wikipedia
        Smithsonian Resource Library Magazine
        ECU News Bureau
        Interview - Archives of American Art

Robert Ebendorf is an inductee of the National Metalsmiths Hall of Fame
He is a founding member of The Society of North American Goldsmiths (SNAG)

A video interview with Bob from NC Arts

Repousse and Chasing Techniques

2010-10-07T03:22:00.004-04:00

Repousse and chasing are techniques for creating 3 dimensional relief in sheet metal. The process is a very old one which is often overlooked by metal artists today. It is a direct method of sculpting metal using simple hand tools and hammers. There is no loss of material when forming metal with these techniques - the metal is not cut by the tools but pushed into shape in small increments. There are as many approaches to repousse and chasing as there are artists.

Here are some of my frequently used chasing tools. These punches have a variety of specially shaped faces which push the sheet metal around by tapping on the tool with a hammer. Most chasing tools are made from hardened and tempered tool steel. Tool steel has a higher carbon content than typical steel which makes it much harder and more durable. I have found that for my purposes, tools made of mild steel with lower carbon content work just fine. In fact, I have done some repousse work with wooden tools with good results. Matt Weber from Della Terra Studios makes some very high quality, high carbon chasing tools.

The texture of the business end of the chasing tool will be transferred to the surface of the metal. Smooth faced tools like these are often used to move the metal into shape. Chasing tools with textured faces can produce different surface effects and are often used in the refinement stages of repousse work.

Repousse and chasing are commonly performed over pitch. Pitch is a resinous tar-like substance which is semi-fluid when hot and hard when cold. It provides a backing for forming the metal that supports it yet allows it to be deformed. The pitch holds the metal in place during hammering and prevents the material from being pushed around, other than what is directly under the chasing tool. The pitch is used at different temperatures depending on the amount or depth of forming required. The final stages of refinement, called planishing, are typical done on cold, hard pitch. Soft pitch has the resistance of wet clay if you were to press something into it - Not your finger! Pitch burns can be very severe and painful. A good source for pitch is Northwest Pitchworks.

This is the lid to a box that I formed in the pitch bowl. I worked the metal from the front and back sides of the design by flipping it over in the pitch multiple times. Repousse refers to pushing the metal out from the back side of the piece - chasing is pushing the metal down from the front. There is a lot of back and forth between repousse and chasing when creating a relief. As the metal is moved around it becomes stiff, or work hardened. The metal will crack if the stresses are not relieved. Think of bending a paper clip back and forth until it snaps. The metal can be returned to it's soft, malleable state by heating it to very high temperatures. This process is called annealing. Annealing temperatures are different for each metal and alloy but generally occur when the metal is red hot. Some metals must cool down slowly after annealing but copper and other non-ferrous metals can be quenched in water for a quick cool down.

I began this piece by drawing the design on the flat sheet metal and embossing the lines with a tool called an outliner or tracer. This tool has a business end similar in shape to a screwdriver but with rounded edges and corners. After the design was outlined I flipped the metal over and began pushing up the high points in between my traced lines. This is the back side of the design showing the types of tools used to create the depth. The piece was then flipped back over to define the shapes from the front.

In this photo you can see the faint impression left by the outliner tool in the lower right. This section has not yet been pushed out from the back side. Starting a project from the front with the outliner is a common strategy but not necessary. Some pieces are started by pushing out a large undefined area from the back and then pushing the low points back down, establishing the design by moving the metal from high to low.

Here is a sample I did for a client a few years back. The fingers and details were created with repousse and chasing, and then the metal was bent up into the cupped shape.

I do a lot of my repousse work with the aid of a hand held pneumatic hammer. This is an air chisel with adjustable speeds. The chisel tools have been modified by grinding, forging, and welding. The tools are just bigger versions of my chasing tools. The air hammer moves the metal quickly and with pretty uniform results. Saves lots of wear and tear on the hammering arm as well!

Here are some pieces that I formed with the pneumatic hammer.

Some of the most famous sculptures created using these techniques are the Statue of Liberty, Portlandia, and King Tut's burial mask. I have lots more to say on the subject of repousse and chasing. I will be posting step by step images of the techniques soon.

See more examples of repousse sculpture

The Record - Exhibition at the Nasher

2010-10-06T01:09:00.002-04:00

There is an interesting exhibit up at the Nasher Museum of Art called The Record: Contemporary Art and Vinyl. The featured works by 41 artists from around the world explore the culture of vinyl records within the history of contemporary art. The participating artists used vinyl records as the subject or the medium for their pieces. I worked on one of the sculptures with my friend Dan Furgurson for Satch Hoyt. Satch is an incredible artist from Berlin. The Nasher brought him over to construct his piece and do some lectures during the build. He hired Dan and I to help with the fabrication. Satch was wonderful to work with as both a designer and a human being. The Nasher ended up purchasing the piece when we were finished. The sculpture is called Celestial Vessel. It is a 16 foot long canoe made of red vinyl records. Here are some photos of the work in progress and two videos.

Satch had several boxes of red vinyl records which we were to make into a canoe. We built a steel frame and attached the records to it with strong earth magnets. The magnets allowed us to remove the vinyl for shipping and storage, and also gave us the freedom to reposition them as we needed.

The steel structure was TIG welded upside down

Placing the records evenly around the compound curves of the ends of the canoe was challenging.

We were working in the beautiful Liberty Arts open air foundry in Durham NC.

It was great working with Satch. He played amazing melodies on his flute while we were welding. He is an accomplished musician as well as a visual artist.

The finished sculpture ready to be boxed up and taken to the Nasher. The steel frame comes apart in three sections.

Images from Maronpot Studios

2010-10-04T21:26:00.002-04:00

I would like to share some of my favorite projects from the last ten years. My metalsmithing experiences started at ECU in Greenville NC, where I had most of my formal training as an artist. After graduation the real education began! I have found that it takes an awful lot of courage to get by in the art business, as well as determination and talent. Without a doubt, the connections you make along the way will be the secret to your success. I would have given up on the idea of being a professional artist years ago if it wasn't for the unconditional support of my friends and family. In the interconnected and google indexed global community today, friends and family take on a whole new meaning. So lets share and share alike!

This hammered copper wall sculpture is one of my personal favorites. It was formed from a single sheet of 16 gauge copper using a process called repousse and chasing - more on that later. It is about 25 inches in diameter and relatively lightweight. The design was inspired by coral formations.

I will be posting a photo documentary on how this sculpture was created from start to finish. This piece was made using very simple tools - hammers, punches, a torch, and a towel.

This 4' tortoise sculpture was made from a single 4' x 8' copper sheet. It was hammer formed and welded out of 16 gauge material. The hollow sculpture was filled solid with a plaster and vermiculite mixture. It weighs 175 pounds. I have extensive documentation of the build. I will be sharing that later.

This honey bee wall sculpture is made of formed copper sheet metal and cast polyester resin. The honeycomb is about 30 inches wide and the honey bee is 8 inches long. I have pictures of this one in progress as well. The wings were the most challenging part of the project for me, but I was out of my comfort zone there, since they are not made of metal.

I like to make functional things from time to time as well! This large coffee table is made of steel, copper, brass, oak, and glass. The pitted steel rods in the left most panel (the roots, or sticks) were salvaged from an industrial site. They came pre-textured!

This is a close up with the glass top removed. The copper panel on the top was formed using the repousse and chasing techniques which I frequently employ. It was hammered free-form without the use of molds or dies. The texture on the brass plate in the bottom right was created by melting the surface with a torch.

This 36" geode sculpture is made of hammered copper and welded steel. The center design was formed from a single sheet of 16 gauge copper by way of repousse and chasing. The outer structure was made from the cut-off end of a heavy steel water tank. A piece of 1/8 inch thick steel was welded to the top, sandwiching in the formed copper sheet. The colors are the result of several patina experiments including gun blue, boiled linseed oil and rust.

This close up shot shows the repousse and chasing work on the copper panel. Repousse refers to moving the metal forward from the back of the design, and chasing is pushing the metal down from the front. I will be explaining more about that process later. The colors in the copper were created by carefully heating the metal with a torch.

This copper catfish sculpture was made from hammered and TIG welded 16 gauge metal. It is about 3.5 feet long. It was assembled in three major sections. The head is a modified cone shape and the body is two formed panels welded along the spine and belly. I have photos of this one in progress.

This piece is similar in design to the first one I posted. I made a series of 3 of these coral inspired wall sculptures, this was the first. I like these because the process of forming the metal was very direct and hands on. There were no complicated or expensive tools, just the sheet of metal and the artist. It is about 25" in diameter.

Lots more to come so stay tuned!
Visit my website to check out more metal artwork.
Feel free to leave comments or suggestions too!

Maronpot Studios

2010-10-04T05:33:00.006-04:00

Welcome to the Maronpot Studios Blog! I will be posting images of my work and pieces by other artists which I find to be extraordinary or inspiring. I hope you will contribute with your feedback and thoughts about art and sculpture in general. These posts will include photos of work in progress as well as technical information and demonstrations of metalworking techniques. I will be sharing my experiences in the world of professional art and valuable links and resources for fellow artists. For appetizers, here are a couple images from my website!

welded steel with bronze finish. 8' tall

Formed and welded copper, steel base

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